Written by Bailey Letson, Wheel The World, January 28, 2022
What is Wheel the World Academy?
Wheel the World Academy is an online training program created for professionals in the tourism industry. Participants will gain knowledge about disabilities, accessibility, and best practices in accessible tourism.
How it all began
In December 2016, we were part of the first expedition to complete the W circuit in Torres del Paine in Patagonia with a wheelchair user. Some called us crazy, others said it was impossible, and more than one person said it was irresponsible.
Well, thanks to that “irresponsibility”, Wheel the World is what it is today. It has impacted thousands of people with and without disabilities, allowing people to get to places they never thought possible. I can definitely say that the trip to Patagonia was the most powerful and significant experience of my life.
But we didn’t stop there. Our hunger to make the world accessible then took us to other places: San Pedro de Atacama, Easter Island, Machu Picchu, Italy, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and more!
As we began to visit these places, we grew our knowledge beyond mobility related disabilities. We started to learn more about accessibility for people with visual or auditory disabilities.
Every time we visited a new destination, we realized that people with disabilities face a huge barrier every time they travel. The barrier is the lack of preparation and knowledge about disability and accessibility within the tourism industry and the general population.
Diverse studies show that people with disabilities often opt not to travel, or to return to the same places, due to the lack of accessibility information about new destinations. According to a study done in Spain in 2018 by the organization Adecco, 56% of people with disabilities don’t travel because of a lack of accessibility information.
Many of our partners began to ask us how to acquire more knowledge and training about accessibility, so we decided to share our knowledge through a program called Wheel the World Academy.
